THIS KNOW by T. | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 14, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 28.

“THIS KNOW.”

By T.

‘THIS know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.” The foregoing sentence is not the language of man. Neither is it a statement to be lightly set aside; for it is the authoritative Word of the living God.

Mankind has been saying for a long time that we are approaching an age in which there is to be no peril. There is nothing more intensely popular than the eulogies upon this “glorious age,” “the marvelous civilization of the nineteenth century,” “the great humanitarian spirit of these times,” and the “approaching millennium.” Any one who dares to suggest a doubt about the enduring goodness into which this world is about to be immersed, is immediately and with sarcastic indignation and ire denounced as a pessimistic fellow, unworthy of the air he breathes.

But praise the good times if you must, and denounce as pessimists all who differ from you if you feel constrained to do so, yet there stands the Word of God confronting you fairly and squarely. Do you not tremble at the thought of taking issue with the Most High? Since He who is as infinite and perfect in His knowledge of the future as He is of the past, has said, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come,” what a terrible responsibility we take upon ourselves in affirming the contrary!

We are not to conjecture about this either. For He says this “KNOW.” And that which may be known is not something to be merely guessed at. It is actual knowledge, to be definitely, positively, and clearly understood.

Who has ever heard of greater perils than those threatening our world to-day? The mutterings of war can not be suppressed. Every nation is strung to its highest tension in marshaling its vast armies and equipping its navies. The internal strife of contending factions and the poorly-disguised and feebly-suppressed plottings of anarchy is a most perplexing menace to every government in the world. Political and social corruption, official dishonesty, moral vice and debauchery, along with all the army of evils in this time, never were greater or more menacing since the days of Noah and Lot.

And yet men will look right into the face of all this, and say that only good times can result. All who are talking thus in the presence of the appalling perils of this time, must have great-hearted courage, yet lacking in a definite knowledge of what God’s Word teaches, or else they are stupidly asleep. Look at the facts squarely. And as you do, your inmost heart and soul are impressed by the perils of this time.

The Book of books tells what these “perilous times” signify. It plainly says that they are a token of the “last days.” To make a mistake on what God has so plainly revealed is both fatal and eternal. Don’t do it. Read the Word of God and heed it. It is the one illuminated fortress of hope amid the darkness and “perilous times” of these “last days.”